


Shattering Shining Lies

by Madoshi_Hikari



Series: Thomas Sanders, SHIELD scientist [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sanders Sides (Web Series), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders-centric, Brainwashing, Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), Deceit Sanders-centric, Deceit's Gloves Come Off, Gen, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Mindscapes, Non-Explicit Panic Attacks, Not Beta Read, Project Pegasus, SHIELD Scientist Thomas Sanders, Super Powered Sides, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, and I mean several, maybe???, mild body horror, more of the cast shows up but those are the major characters, the original prompt was "Loki meets Virgil" buuut, this has significance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22820644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madoshi_Hikari/pseuds/Madoshi_Hikari
Summary: In which Thomas is a scientist at Project PEGASUS.And then Loki arrives.Deceit Did Not Ask For This.(Neither did Virgil.)
Relationships: The Sides & The Sides (Sanders Sides), Thomas Sanders & The Sides
Series: Thomas Sanders, SHIELD scientist [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1708543
Comments: 28
Kudos: 230





	Shattering Shining Lies

**Author's Note:**

> SO! I got this prompt via a YouTube comment um.  
> A while ago. Oops?
> 
> Anyway, originally, this was supposed to be Virgil meeting Loki.  
> But then my brain went "okay but Deceit" and there went this story.

Thomas liked working for PEGASUS. He was always good at science, and the Tesseract was something Logan alternatively drooled over and nearly threw his bookshelf over in frustration.

He wasn’t entirely sure what _exactly_ their mysterious sponsors wanted to do with the space cube and very sure he was better off not knowing.

It was something Patton liked to argue, with Virgil backing him up, but this was the one topic Deceit handily won every argument on. That should have probably been the first clue something was going to go terribly wrong.

Granted, he hadn’t expected a person to come out of the cube-like this was one of his old sci-fi novels. Thomas didn’t even have to look to see that Virgil had just been abruptly summoned- his anxiety and fight-or-flight instinct had started kicking in the moment the cube had started going crazy.

Thankfully, the Sides knew better than to appear where people would notice them. Thomas wasn’t sure what people would do to him- or them, for that matter- when they found the silly videos where stood around in different costumes “talking to himself” weren’t actually him talking to himself but that Roman and everyone were actually real, but Virgil had made very compelling arguments against finding out.

Before either he or Virgil could do anything, though, the man’s eyes found his, lit up with something like amused interest and his scepter connected with Thomas’ chest.

* * *

Patton shuddered as a foreign feeling ran through him.

The Mind Palace’s ceiling creaked ominously.

Thomas’ morality gagged even as Logan felt the same feeling run through him.

“What the-“

The ceiling broke open as a blue mass poured from it, Patton hacking up more of the substance.

“R- Roman… What’s-“ He got out before the substance flooded the room.

* * *

Virgil stared into Thomas’ crystal blue eyes.

_What the fuck._

_What the actual fuck?!_

“Virgil?” Thomas sounded confused. “What’re you doing here? I’m not anxious… like, at all. Woah.”

The worst part was that he was right- whatever the hell that scepter did, it had forcefully severed Virgil’s connection to him- his influence over to Thomas was currently nil.

“Oh? What do we have here… You are different from the rest of these mortals,” came the oil-slick voice of the leather-clad man. Virgil spun to face him, violet eyes meeting the same shattered-crystal-blue that Thomas now possessed.

“I can safely say I’ve never met anyone like you either,” Virgil aims for nonchalant. He misses by a few miles.

The stranger looks amused and extends the scepter again.

Virgil snaps himself to Thomas’ apartment before it can connect, stumbles for the couch and sinks to the floor before his panic attack catches up with him.

_What the fuck- what did he do- oh god, are the others okay? What if whatever did that to cut me off from Thomas influenced the others- what the hell do I do-?!_

* * *

Deceit’s eyes go to the ceiling – the divide between Bright and Dark Sides - when a drop of some form of liquid drips through. “Well, that’s not unusual at all.”

There’s a strangled yelp as the substance suddenly crystallizes, pulls Remus out of his room and unceremoniously drops Roman onto the floor.

“…what?” Deceit abandons his usual demeanor in favor of letting his bafflement shine through because he is, for once, completely out of depth. A novel feeling, to say the least.

Roman groans, on the verge of passing out- all too familiar behavior to the Dark Side. But what on Earth could make Thomas repress _Roman_ of all Sides?

Deceit eyes the blue substance wearily. “Clearly, I won’t have to step in…” he murmurs and carefully lays the Prince on a conjured hospital bed.

Mind made up, he sinks out only to appear knee-deep in the crystal blue gunk in the Bright Sides’ Hub. It seems to be flowing from a hole in the ceiling, largely coating Patton and Logan. Remus appears to be trapped under the surface, mouth moving silently.

Deceit sweeps his gaze around the room- good, at least Virgil appeared to be safe from this phenomenon. Fight or flight at his best, if he were to guess.

He let his eyes wander back to the gaping hole in the ceiling. “I’m not going to regret this, will I?” Deceit sighs and starts manifesting stairs.

* * *

Virgil wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he finally managed to pull himself together.

“What the hell do I do?” he mutters, looking out the window.

The newly illuminated Stark Tower greeted his eyes. Virgil felt social anxiety grip his heart like a vice.

He swallows heavily. “…no, you can do this. For Thomas. Okay,” Virgil takes a deep breath and snaps himself onto the outside balcony of the tower.

Tony Stark, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, and currently in his Iron Man armor, almost falls out of the sky in shock. The Side winces guiltily.

Iron Man lands a few feet in front of him and Virgil flinches back.

“How the fuck did you do that?!” Stark demands.

He actually sounds pretty freaked out, which ironically enough has Virgil calming down. “Hey, you’re a superhero, right?” He asks once he shuffled his body into a more relaxed stance.

The helmet’s faceplate flips up to show that Stark has raised an eyebrow. “Ah… I guess?”

Virgil kind of wants to flee to Thomas’ apartment and hide for the rest of his existence, but plows onward.

“Um, long story short, my brother Thomas …well, brother’s the best term for it, anyway… works for this government project called PEGASUS and they were working on this space cube… thing? Called the Tesseract. Someone came out of it and I’m pretty sure he’s fucked up Thomas’ mental state, like mind control or something, and I have no idea what to do-“

“Okay, kid, calm down-“

“I am the living embodiment of Thomas’ anxiety- Shit, fuck, forget I said that,” Virgil froze as the truth slipped out.

“…alright, I’m getting out of this armor and you’re going to explain.”

Virgil burrows his head in his hands. “God damn it, Dee and Logan are going to _kill me_.”

“Whoever they are, they better be included in that explanation,” Stark quips as the robot arms hidden in the terrace dismantle the suit.

The Side groans into his hoodie sleeves.

* * *

Deceit sits down heavily on his staircase, breathing heavily. “For… Heaven’s sake… I’m not… not exhausted at all.”

He snaps up another sandwich and some coffee. “Oh, they don’t owe me for this.”

_Not like I’ve been doing this for hours…_

He eyes the other streams of bright blue substance that wind themselves through the strange void with mismatched eyes. “… it would appear that this isn’t bigger than we thought.”

Having finished his snack, he goes back to summoning stairs. He suppresses the urge to start humming ‘Let it Go’.

* * *

“So, let me get this straight- Dr. Sanders, a neuroscientist famous for his paper on dissociative identity disorder, has a form of dissociative identity disorder where he can not only summon different ‘Sides’ of his personality, but they can bend reality to a fairly ridiculous degree?”

“Yes.”

“Nobody knows?”

“Until I was a moron and blurted it out, yes,” Virgil nods.

“And you represent Anxiety?”

Virgil hums uncomfortably.

“That has _got_ to suck.”

“Oh god, yes. Back on topic, please- can you help us?”

_[Sir, SHIELD’s Agent Coulson is calling.]_

The Side flinches violently at the voice from the ceiling.

“Sorry, that’s JARVIS- what does Agent want?”

 _Who’s JARVIS?_ Virgil wonders as he silently ducks out of the frame of the video call. The Sides have by now become experts at calculating where a camera is filming or not to avoid being seen in the same frame as each other or Thomas.

_“Mr. Stark, glad you picked up.”_

“Yeah, I was in the middle of a frankly fascinating conversation, but I have the weird feeling this might be related,” the billionaire nods.

 _“Unless you were talking about the Tesseract and the alien that used it as a gateway here, I highly doubt it,”_ the agent drily comments.

Well, that solves the answers who the mysterious sponsors are. ‘SHIELD’ sounds like a secret government organization that Virgil wants Thomas far away from, but it’s a bit late now.

“Yeah, funny thing that, I’ve got the brother of one Dr. Thomas Sanders here, who was apparently brainwashed by said alien- what’d you say your name was, kid?”

Virgil glowers at the billionaire. _Thanks for putting me on the spot!_ “Um…” he hesitantly moves into frame. “…Virgil Sanders. Hello.”

_“You look remarkably like the similarly named character from your brother’s videos.”_

“Well, he’s based on me…” Virgil deflects the underlying question.

Suddenly, the elevator doors open to let the Agent inside. “Fascinating.”

* * *

Deceit hisses in irritation and almost chokes on the scent of _lies_ filling the air here.

“I certainly like this…” he mutters under his breath as he picks up the pace. “No time to move,” he comments acerbically and shifts his usual outfit into a tracksuit that he prays no one will ever see him in.

* * *

Virgil _hates_ flying.

But he certainly isn’t going to just sit around and do nothing with Thomas under fucking _mind control_. He might not be Roman or Patton, but if he can do something to help with the megalomaniac trying to take over Earth? He _will_.

Though he’ll likely have to drag some of his long-unused abilities out of the closet for that.

For now, however, he was trapped in a small aircraft with Agent Coulson and they just picked up _Captain God Damn America,_ who was alive, apparently.

“Breathe in for four…. hold for eight…….. release for seven …….” He mutters repeatedly to himself.

“Don’t like planes?” Rogers asks and Virgil freezes. _Shit, he’s talking to me._

“Um- no, not a fan,” he mumbles.

“Can’t say I am, either,” the American hero shrugs, then blinks. “Sorry, forget I said that.”

Oh, lovely…

Virgil _still_ has that particular effect on strangers, then. “Sorry,” he apologizes quietly.

Rogers shoots him a confused look in the way that reminds him of Patton, all confused puppy. The Side shuts down that particular train of thought as soon as it forms.

“I… have this effect on people where they just sort of blurt out their fears around me.”

“Is that why Dr. Sanders chose you to base Anxiety off of?” Coulson interjects.

“…one of the reasons,” he mumbles.

“Dr. Sanders? He’s your brother, isn’t he? I’m sorry about what happened.”

Virgil swallows. “You make it sound like he’s dead… I’ll get him back somehow,” he finishes firmly. He’s a bit surprised by how much he means it, actually. He _will_ do anything necessary to get Thomas back.

Then again, he is half of Thomas’ self-preservation, so it’s not as much of a surprise as it could be.

He wonders what happened to Deceit…

* * *

He has to bite back a surprised curse when the stream suddenly starts to change direction, almost swallowing Deceit in the process.

“So… it pertains location, perhaps?” He muses. The stream appeared to be leading sideways now…

He looks down at the tracksuit. “Very well then. Picking up the pace…”

With a wave of his hands, a bicycle materializes- unfortunately, he is not one of the Sides able to operate a car.

“This isn’t nearly enough to be too much effort…”

He isn’t even entirely sure if that was a lie.

* * *

A _giant flying ship._ Virgil might scream.

He muffles a groan in his hoodie sleeves instead. “Why _me…_ ”

“You okay there?” comes a timid voice from behind him.

Virgil turns to find a vaguely familiar-looking man with tightly curled black hair.

“… been better. Sorry, do I know you?”

The man looks a bit taken aback at the question. “Can’t say you’re familiar- I’m Doctor Bruce Banner.”

Oh.

_Oh._

“Ah,” Virgil makes, feeling a bit stupid. “My… best friend Logan’s a big fan of your work. I think he held a presentation on you once, actually…”

He’s talking to the Hulk.

Today is clearly determined to send him into multiple panic attacks.

“Well, I’m going to go find a place where I can’t see the sky. Bye!” Virgil fibs and dashes off.

The surroundings blur around him until he can’t tell where he’s running.

At some point, he collapses against a wall and proceeds to have that second panic attack.

* * *

Deceit _finally_ found the source of the whole mess. He heaves a sigh of relief as he eyes the frankly overflowing mind palace.

And it _is_ a palace- beneath the blue gunk everywhere, he can faintly see a mix of golden spires and frosted towers, complete with an absolutely trashed garden.

He eyes the blue substance. Deceit is seriously tempted to conjure a hazmat suit.

He settles instead for a heavy raincoat and hefty black rainboots and tries to ignore how he looks like the protagonist of Little Nightmares. Carefully, Deceit begins to venture into the unfamiliar labyrinthine mindscape caked with the blue lie gunk and ice. “Sweet heavens, how warped is this man’s mental state?” he asks no one in particular.

And if he’s fiddling with his sleeves, well, no one has to know, do they?

Deceit conjures some pocket warmers and continues on his journey.

* * *

“Patches, what are you doing on the floor?”

The voice snaps Virgil out of his spiraling thoughts. He blinks rapidly before turning to meet Stark’s eyes- Dr. Banner is standing behind him, looking uncomfortable.

“Panic attack,” Virgil deadpans, though with his breathless state it just comes out a bit scared sounding. “Not a fan of flying.”

“Yikes. I’m just glad if I make it through the day without a flashback- did I say that out loud?”

“Side effect of my presence, sorry. Where are we right now, anyway?” the Side asks as he clambers to his feet.

“You ended up in front of the labs. Want to come inside?” Stark offers.

“Um… sure. Thanks, Dr. Stark.”

The billionaire looked surprised for some reason.

* * *

The ground had started moving under Deceit’s feet a while ago, but now it was finally standing still again.

Likely why he’d finally been able to reach the center of the bloody place. “This isn’t long overdue at all,” he muttered under his breath and pushed the doors open, releasing another wave of blue ooze which slammed against his knees.

The sight that met his mismatched eyes was disturbing, to say the least.

The mental projection of the stranger’s true self was chained to the wall by crystal blue (and clearly far more solid) thick chains, feeding a steady stream of gold-green energy through the shackles into a crystal copy of him with a sickly yellow gem sat squarely in its forehead.

Said crystal copy was the origin of the blue substance coating everything (including Thomas’ mindspace, he remembered with a sick feeling in his stomach) and evidently the cause of this entire mess.

Deceit tried not to vomit at the overpowering scent of lies permeating the entire room. The outside was practically a soft perfume compared to this!

The copy hadn’t noticed him yet, seeing how it was busy concentrating on a sort of scepter rammed into a golden console.

The Side crept over to the True Self of the unfamiliar man and gently placed a gloved hand on one of the bruises mottling his pale form. The stranger awoke with a gasp.

“What- oh gods, I’m still here, not again-“

“You seem calm.”

Emerald green eyes, still blown wide in fear, focused on him. The look slowly changed to confusion with a healthy dose of scared.

“Who…?”

“Yes, because that’s what’s important here. Care to explain what is happening? I already know, clearly.”

“A compulsive liar?”

“ _No_.”

“…clearly. You wouldn’t happen to be able to free me, would you? Perhaps with your help, I can get rid of… _that_ ,” the stranger nodded in the direction of his crystal counterpart.

“Will this release the others from under your control?”

“I would assume so.”

Deceit eyes his gloves, then the crystalline clone, and lastly the substance stinking of lies.

“… very well. Gloves off.”

The stranger raises an eyebrow when Deceit does just that, but his eyes widen considerably when he lays his hands on the shackles binding the stranger to the wall and with a crackle of yellow lightning, they shatter.

* * *

The first hint Virgil gets that something is happening is when the gem in the scepter begins pulsing yellow.

A very _familiar_ shade of yellow.

“What the… Hey, uh, Dr. Stark?” the Side catches the other two scientist’s attention. “Something’s happening.”

When the two humans caught sight of the scepter, they froze.

“Hey, this is… Loki’s, right?” Virgil asked. Dr. Banner nodded mutely.

Virgil looked back at the scepter, considering. “Where’s he being held, again?”

“Lowest floor, big glass box, why?” Stark asks.

Virgil was already running, drawing on the full speed his existence as fight-or-flight granted him.

He arrives at the cell to find Loki on his knees, clutching his head with his eyes screwed shut, clearly in pain if the noise he makes is anything to go off of.

* * *

Back in the lab, the bright blue casing of the Mind Stone shatters in a shower of yellow sparks.

Virgil suddenly feels his connection to Thomas snap back into place.

Roman’s eyes flutter open. He sits up on the hospital bed and looks around, confused.

Logan and Patton collapse to the floor, passing out.

Remus fights himself free from the last of the thick slime and looks at the out cold Morality and Logic. “What the actual fuck just happened?”

Deceit finds himself ejected out of the stranger’s mindscape, phasing through some form of thick glass before slamming into Virgil.

In several places, crystal blues eyes suddenly fade back into their natural color.

Loki groans as he staggers to his feet. “That… was _thoroughly_ unpleasant,” the demi-god looks around, puzzled by his surroundings. “Now, where in Valhalla’s name am I?”

* * *

Virgil stares at Deceit, who’s dressed in heavy-duty rain gear and caked in blue slime in some places.

“Hello, Virgil.”

He’s not wearing his gloves.

“… Dee. You’re not wearing your gloves…”

“Well, the situation rather demanded Truth. I’m glad to see you unharmed.”

“… thanks. I’m gonna go check on Thomas. I’m sure you can deal with the questions,” he gives the snake-faced Side a smirk and vanishes.

Deceit sighs, putting his gloves back on and changing into his usual outfit in the same instant.

“Thank you, for that,” he snarks back into empty air just before Director Fury enters the room, looking his namesake.

At least the knowledge sharing was back.

“Greetings, Director Fury. I shouldn’t warn you I am most definitely not a compulsive liar, should you wish to interrogate me.”

“Where the hell did your friend go- for that matter, where did you come from?”

Deceit thinks for a moment. “I really shouldn’t…”

He snaps his fingers anyway.

* * *

Thomas abruptly finds himself elsewhere. The Helicarrier, if he’d gotten Virgil’s hurried knowledge-dump correctly interpreted.

Also present is a man apparently named Fury and… “Deceit, what are you doing out here?”

“I certainly didn’t save you and possibly further people from brainwashing,” the mild-mannered Side snarks.

Thomas blinks. “Oh- thank you, Deceit.”

“I didn’t do it for you, now did I? It’s not as if I’m half of your self-preservation.”

_Oh, right._

“What the fuck is going on here?!” Fury interrupts.

“It’s… a pretty long story,” Thomas hedges.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants more, I might make this a series :)
> 
> ...  
> UPDATE: This is going to become a series, clearly!


End file.
